Illustrative: a chamber of seats in blocs with a vote sweeping across, or delegations around a table and the exchanges between them

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Governance, Policy and International Affairs · Department of International Affairs and Diplomacy

WHO, the IHR, the Pandemic Agreement process and global health finance

Global health governance

Health risks cross borders faster than institutions can be reformed, and the rules that govern them changed twice in two years.

01Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Courses
In preparation
Levels
In development
Labs
In development
  • WHO and its governance
  • The International Health Regulations (2005) and the 2024 amendments
  • The WHO Pandemic Agreement and the PABS annex negotiations
  • Global health financing and the Pandemic Fund
  • The Quadripartite and One Health governance
  • Access to medical countermeasures
  • Antimicrobial resistance governance
  • Accountability and monitoring (GPMB)
  • Health in foreign policy and diplomacy
02Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow global health governance on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states: a flat plan of the faculty twin. 13 countries; First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens; Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens. Graticule every five degrees; countries (natural earth 1:110m) as outlines.
The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda and neighbours. Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.
  • 13 countries
  • First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Countries are raised on the globe for legibility.

Drag to turn the globe, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows turn, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

03Live map

Environmental exposure in Ethiopia

Haze, nitrogen dioxide, dust, surface heat by day and night, and where people live, over Ethiopia.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Environmental exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Environmental exposure, framed on Ethiopia.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
  • Surface dust PM2.5, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
  • Land surface temperature, night, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

04The subject

The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies

The field and its scope

For public health officers, diplomats, financiers and analysts who need to understand how cross-border health risk is governed through WHO, the International Health Regulations, the Pandemic Agreement, global health finance and One Health coordination.

05The method

From a first case to a notification: how days of delay compound into cases

An outbreak grows by doubling; every day between the first case, its detection, its notification under the International Health Regulations and the first coordinated response multiplies the cases a response must then contain.

Sources: WHO, International Health Regulations (2005), third edition (2016); Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic (2021); Gostin, Global Health Law (2014); Moon and others, Will Ebola change the game? Ten essential reforms before the next pandemic (2015).

06Signature

How global health governance connects the sectors

Select corners to build a signature, then hover a line to read what each sector gives and receives.

Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations

Signature

Health and its partners

Health gives workforce for operations to infrastructure (0.3), farm labour to food (0.3) and utility workforce to water (0.2).

W · E · I · F · H · B

Sectors
4 of 6
Relations
6 of 15
Coupling
0.42 share of total

Strongest relations in play

  • Water → Food · irrigation0.8
  • Food → Health · nutrition0.7
  • Infrastructure → Water · pipes, dams and treatment works0.6
  • Water → Health · drinking water and sanitation0.7
Teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place. Coupling is the summed strength of the relations in play, as a share of all fifteen.
07At a glance

At a glance, hub, what is changing now and courses

Global health governance at a glance

risksacademy.comgovernance-policydiscipline

Global health governance: 0 primary courses open, 0 in preparation and 0 also taught here, across 9 subtopics. Courses: none yet.
Global health governance at a glance
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 0
  • Subtopics, 9
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Twin builderBuild a twin of any placeWorked example: the Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states · 4 generators · 10 layers · 3 instruments
08Console

How Global health governance is taught, as a process you can run

Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.

09Practice

Practice, learning and connections

How technology helps and what risk it brings

10Take part

Take part in Governance, Policy and International Affairs

Start from who you are.

11References

Core references and where to begin

Start with WHO, then Gostin, then Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness.

12Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in global health governance?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

International Health Regulations

The binding international instrument for detecting, assessing, notifying and responding to public health events.

Term

Pandemic emergency

The alert level added to the IHR by the 2024 amendments, in force since 19 September 2025.

Term

PABS annex

The pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex whose adoption is required before the Pandemic Agreement can open for signature.

Term

Quadripartite

The collaboration of FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH on One Health.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Global health governance

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Independence

Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.

Licence

Articles: CC BY 4.0. Figures, maps, twins and data: CC BY 4.0. Other uses: ask through the permissions form.